Gollam

First off, let me apologize if this is a stupid question. I'm a girl that knows very little about cars.

I went to start my 2007 rx-8 today and it wouldn't start, it didn't even make a clicking sound. I had a neighbor try to jump it, and it got a bit of a charge (enough to start clicking when trying to start it). I then got someone who had one of those portable jump starters and got it to start. I let it run for a bit plus drove around for a while. I had it running for almost an hour straight. Figuring this would be long enough to get a bit of a charge in it again. A couple hours later I went to go out and it wouldn't start again, also no clicking sounds again so it seems like the battery is completely drained again.

I don't think its the alternator, but only because my old mx-6 had an alternator problem and it would die while driving. As long as my rx-8 is running, it doesn't die.

I'm guessing that I should just replace the battery, but there isn't anywhere near to me that is open at the moment to do that. So I thought I'd post on here to maybe get confirmation that I'm going in the right direction.

Thanks!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

get a new battery.

case closed.

Gollam

Thanks, that was what I thought. Having someone confirm makes me feel better about it.

Cliffjumper126

Advance Auto or Autozone will test your old one and your electrical system for free to see if you need one. and it sounds like you definitely need a battery. Good luck!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

those "test" are useless. Common Sense > their useless test.

ken-x8

The battery tests aren't completely useless. I've seen a few give correct results. Although more often they tend to give a lot of false "good" results when a battery under warranty is tested, and a lot of "bad" results when a sale of a new battery is on the line.

When you get the new battery, have someone put a voltmeter across it while the car is running. Make sure the charging voltage is within range: 14 volts or so. You can have alternater output that's high enough to keep the car running, but not enough to charge the battery. Too high can kill a battery.

Ken

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

this is the problem, their test is just "wrong" and give wrong results all the time. so why trust them ? I can test my own battery with a el-cheapo 5 bux voltage meter bought @ HF, I use Actron btw.

not everyone knows how it I know, but it shouldn't be too hard to find someone who knows how to connect positive to positive and negative to negative.

test the alternator output by it's amperage, the volt part is not always accurate, and gotta test it AFTER it's fully warmed up. otherwise the results will be wrong.

cuz some bad alternator sees 14.7 when cold, but dropped to 12.x after it's fully warmed up, but the amerpage shows its "dead" even when its cold.

zoominomad

Like said above you want to have your alternator tested properly, but you may just have a bad battery. Had similar issue with my wife's 05. May also want to check your terminal connectors and make sure they're still in good shape.

Cliffjumper126

Well some of them probably fix the test to say what they want. The battery test wasn't really what I was talking about, it's pretty obvious it's shot. I meant testing the alternator. They wouldn't have any reason to fix that test

Gollam

Thanks for all of the responses! I bought a new battery from costco yesterday and changed it myself (I know, easy change. But for someone who hasn't done it before, it scared me a bit)

Car starts just fine now. Glad I didn't manage to flood it through this process. I did manage to loose a bolt for the safety harness... Luckily found one in the house I could use on it instead.

Cheers everyone! and thanks again!